Livelihood Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities · vocational training, employment, etc. As a result, ‘Poor people are disproportionately disabled…and people with disabilities

Livelihood Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities2

1Livelihood Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities

LIVELIHOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

SUMMARY REPORT



“Development can only be sustainable when it is equitable, inclusive and accessible for all. Persons with disabilities need therefore to be included at

all stages of development processes, from inception to monitoring and evaluation. Addressing negative attitudes, the lack of services or ready access to them, and other harmful social, economic and cultural barriers will benefit all of society.

On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I call on governments, civil society and the global community to work for and alongside persons with disabilities to achieve inclusive, sustainable and equitable development worldwide”.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations,

3rd December 2011



An Overview

The 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) places strong emphasis on inclusive and rapid poverty reduction and among the key

strategies proposed by it, is the accelerated support to decentralized and outcome based planning. It expects to

improve the effectiveness of development programmes and to facilitate inclusive growth, the latter by ensuring

equitable participation and benefit sharing by disadvantaged social groups.

In 2008, UNDP, India in partnership with the Planning Commission launched the Livelihood Promotion

Strategies Project in the country focused on seven states. The project recognizes that the seven UN focus States

(Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) have relatively higher

concentration of poor and disadvantaged groups than other States. These disadvantaged women and men have

limited livelihood options and are highly dependent on agriculture and the informal economy.

All women and men with disabilities can and want to be productive members of society. In both developed

and developing countries, promoting more inclusive societies and employment opportunities for people with

disabilities requires improved access to basic education, vocational training relevant to labour market needs and

jobs suited to their skills, interests and abilities, with adaptations as needed. Many societies are also recognizing the

need to dismantle other barriers, making the physical environment more accessible, and providing information in

a variety of formats, and challenging attitudes and mistaken assumptions about Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

It is in this context that the UNDP, New Delhi and the Indian Planning Commission, carried out a review and

research study in 2010, which documented the status and consolidated the existing experiences and innovations

of various government and non-government initiatives that are taking forward programmes and processes of

creating livelihood opportunities for PwDs. The knowledge and practical understanding gained from this review

exercise has given valuable insights into the possible ways and means of livelihood improvement for PwDs, which

are being formulated into a set of recommendations to be shared with the relevant policy makers and agencies

both at the national and state government level in their progress towards social inclusion and poverty reduction.

The report will also feed into the XIIth FYP on measures for inclusion and livelihood improvement of Persons with

Disabilities.



In 1995, the Government of India passed the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights

and Full Participation) Act (PwD Act). As per Section 2 (I) of the Act, Disability is defined as:1

i. Blindness; ii. Low vision; iii. Leprosy-cured; iv. Hearing impairment; v. Loco motor disability; vi. Mental retardation; vii. Mental illness;

How is ‘Disability’ defined in India?

1 For the purpose of this study, we have taken the PwD Act, 1995 as the base for definitions for categories of disability.


2 Census 2011 has included revised questions about disability, and there has been a reasonable amount of publicity so that the information reaches the relevant people. The results of Census 2011 are expected to provide much more authentic numbers considering the spadework that is being done. For this study, though, we have to rely on the figures emerging from the earlier Census, 2001.

As per Sec 2(t) of the Act, ‘persons with disability’ means a person suffering from not less than forty percent of

any disability as certified by a medical authority.

In addition, there are other frameworks being presently used as reference points for describing and defining

Disability in India.

The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 deals with the following conditions:

i. Autism, ii. Cerebral Palsy, iii. Mental Retardation, and iv. Multiple Disabilities, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Government of India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in October 2007. Article (1) of the Convention states that, “ Persons with disabilities include those who

have long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers

may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

Disability is therefore not defined as a standalone medical condition, but rather as the product of the interaction

between the environment broadly defined and the health condition of particular persons.”

According to the Census 20012 there were approximately 22 million persons with disabilities in India who

constituted 2.13 percent of the total population. This includes persons with visual, hearing, speech, loco motor

and mental disabilities. However, according to the World Bank Report 2009, approximately 6 percent of the Indian

population has some form of disability. To top it up, the World Health Organization figure is stated at 10 percent

of the total population. Disability is a complex phenomenon and thereby accurately measuring its prevalence

through a national level survey presents many challenges. Given these complexities, the lack of agreement about

optimal measures of disability is not surprising, hence resulting in varying figures.


‘Poverty is a cause of disability since the poor often lack resources to prevent malnutrition, and do not have

access to adequate health services that may prevent some disabilities. Poverty is a consequence of disability

since persons with disabilities often lack access to education, health services and income- generating activities:

they are often denied their human, social and economic rights.3”

3 Leymat, Anne etal, 2006, ‘Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment ’, Handicap International.

Value Proposition of Including PwDs in the Economic Work Force


While PwDs constitute a huge population, they are

rarely seen as productive human capital of the Nation

state. The direct correlation between disability and

poverty is largely ignored by National states, while it

creates a vicious circle as the opportunity for persons

with disabilities to earn is much less and their expenses

are more, resulting in people with disabilities and their

families being poorer than the others.

Research reveals that a majority of PwDs are unable to

earn any livelihood for a variety of reasons, such as the

lack of adequate education or training. Only one to

two percent of PwDs in developing countries receive

an education. (United Nations Educational Scientific

and Cultural Organization, 1998). Also, the employers,

family members and/or sometimes the PwDs

themselves have preconceived ideas regarding their

capabilities, accessibility issues and so on. Compared

to their able-bodied peers unemployment among

PwDs is usually high. The situation of women with

disabilities is even worse, with more discrimination

and fewer opportunities. As a result, PwDs are mostly

considered burdens, live in poverty and lack access

to basic services such as education, health care,

vocational training, employment, etc. As a result, ‘Poor

people are disproportionately disabled…and people

with disabilities are disproportionately poor.’ Holzmann,

World Bank.


There are an estimated 650 million people with disabilities in the world (maybe 12 percent of the global population)

and 80 percent of these (520 million) are concentrated in developing countries. Furthermore 80-90 percent of the

persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed compared to 50-70 percent in industrialized countries.4

“The World Bank considers that leaving people with disabilities outside the economy translates into a foregone

GDP of about 5-7 percent”.5

Studies prove that the costs of economic exclusion outweigh the costs of full economic citizenship of PwDs.

Henceforth, it is valuable to invest in the disabled people.6 The remedy for this is to understand the condition

of PwDs and work towards providing support for their livelihood options to ensure a life of dignity for them.

Many developed nations have already begun work in this direction and it is evident from a range of experiences

available from across the world, which highlight the reduction in poverty and increase in economic participation

by the PwDs.

In India, the PwDs talent, skills and potential mostly remain untapped, under-utilised or under-developed Further,

the education and employment rates for persons with disabilities are far lower than the non-disabled persons.

The opportunities for PwDs, to earn is less and their expenses more, resulting in them being one of the more

impoverished communities in India.

Even though India is clocking an average annual GDP Growth rate of 8.45 percent (2004-2011) and employment

opportunities have increased in the last two decades, the employment percentage of persons with disabilities

actually fell from 43 percent in 1991 to 38 percent in 2002 despite the galloping economic growth.7

According to the employment projections given in the Eleventh Plan, an estimated 116 million employment

opportunities would be created in the XIth and XIIth Plan periods. The unemployment rate at the end of the XIIth

4 Drawn from UN Enable Statistics. Please see http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=2555 Cited in ‘A new Financial Access Frontier: People with Disabilities ‘, Centre for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International6 Kleinitz, Pauline, ‘Including People with Disabilities in Poverty Alleviation: why do it, and how: CBM-Nossal Partnership for Disability Inclusive

Development)7 Word Bank Report, ‘People with Disabilities in India From Commitments to Outcomes, 2007, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INDIAEXTN/

Resources/295583-1171456325808/Chapter05.pdf


plan period is projected to fall a little over 1 percent.8 Further, a Skill Development Mission was launched in the

XIth – Five Year plan, which envisions creating 500 million skilled workers by 2022.

The Analysis and Assessment of the findings and review of the ground realities has given a good understanding

with respect to the barriers and opportunities vis a vis existing livelihood programmes and policies. Some of the

major challenges concerning the inclusion of the Disabled that came to the forefront were:

� An inadequate and inefficient Management Information System proved to be a handicap, as most

of the departments particularly in the State governments had not filed compliance reports with the

respective Commissioner of Disabilities. In cases, where data was available, it was in the form of a data

dump without any segregation either gender wise, age or any category wise. Only the total figure of PwDs

was made available. Category-wise (VH, HH and OH) segregated data could be found only for the three

percent Government job reservation provision. However, department wise single source availability of the

data on three percent compliance was also not found. Only the Department of Social Justice, Government

of Chhattisgarh has a system of keeping department wise and category wise status of compliance on job

reservation of PwDs.

� Lack of a common definition to understanding Disability across various government agencies and

departments was also a big hindrance. There is no uniform terminology being used by the departments.

While the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) uses ‘Persons with Disabilities’, most other

departments continued to use the term ‘Physically Handicapped’.

� Lack of a detailed and centralized reporting system. No single source data is available with the

State government on all schemes related to disabilities. For example, the MoSJE, is the nodal ministry

for PwDs, but it only collects data related to their schemes which is also not category specific. They have

no provisions for keeping comprehensive centralized data on disability. As far as beneficiary data is

concerned, the department has data related to scholarships and pensions being directly disbursed by

the department. The programmes implemented by NGOs through the Government grant-in-aid schemes

have no centralized data of beneficiaries, though the department receives the list of beneficiaries from

the NGOs.

8 Report of the ‘ Sub Group on Economic Empowerment of persons with Disabilities’, August 2011. Under the Working Group on Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for formulation of XII Five Year Plan (2012-2017)


� Lack of transparency and information sharing affects the availability of data and

performance. Except for MGNREGA website,

where the data is available across the nation

(only total figures), websites for all the other

livelihood schemes do not provide data

pertaining to PwD beneficiaries. It is observed

that less than one third (28.03%) of the PwDs

actually registered have benefited under

MGNREGA with 19.48 as the average number

of days worked.

� There was an under-utilization of the quota for PwDs in schemes including job reservations, which were falling short by 66

percent of the mandated reservation.

� No action has ever been initiated for the non-compliance of the stipulated reservation by the various departments by

the Commissioner of Disability.

� The PMEGP data was available for only three States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha. The average for individual PwD Swarozgaris

assisted under SGSY was found to be 1.98 percent as against the three percent reservation. The average

for States under study shows 1.64 percent, with Andhra Pradesh at 3.24 percent and Madhya Pradesh at

3.03 percent, the only two States to have met the target of three percent reservation.

� The impact of gender on disability is also manifold as urban men with physical impairments most

often represent the Disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) and Women, especially those with learning

difficulties, sensory impairments or mental illness and multiple disabilities rarely get equal access, resulting

in a limited or minimal representation of their needs and interests in the larger arena of policy changes.


� The move from sheltered employment schemes to facilitating the entry of disabled people into mainstream

employment is progressive. However, market based mechanisms will not lift the disabled out of poverty as

long as prejudice remains deeply embedded in social, political and economic institutions. Although

a high proportion of those living in most extreme poverty (e.g. street children) are disabled, they are often

also excluded from assistance programmes as disability is seen as a specialist issue, for others to deal with.

As per the World Bank reports, more than fifteen years after the reforms, disabled people have about

60 percent lower employment rates than the general population, a gap that has been increasing, which is a

cause of major concern. In order to ensure that Persons with Disabilities are able to earn a livelihood and lead a

life of dignity, contribute to the economy of the country and become respected citizens, it is imperative that a

right-based approach is adopted while framing policies and developing programmes. Disproportionate level of

poverty among disabled people and the widespread exclusion they experience9 therefore calls for a twin-track

approach wherein disabled people should be included in all areas of work; at the same time there should be

specific initiatives for working with disabled people. Governments, donors and NGOs need to recognize that if

disability inclusion is to be achieved, active measures are needed to combat the discrimination that currently

exists. This will be possible if donors, governments and agencies work with, and not just on behalf of, disabled

people.

9 DFID’s Issues Paper, Disability, Poverty and Development (DFID 2000)


10 Drawn from the Report of the Sub Group on Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities – Under the Working Group of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for formulations of XII Five year Plan (2012-17), August 2011.

11 ‘Disability is not defined as a standalone medical condition, but rather as the product of the interaction between the environment broadly defined and the health condition of particular persons.’

Moving Ahead: The Way Forward

General Recommendations10

� The terminology and definitions used for defining Disability should be standardized and uniform

across departments, CSO’s and policies. In addition, the discrepancy that exists wherein the terms

‘handicapped’ and ‘Person with Disability’ are used interchangeably needs to be discontinued with the

elimination of the word ‘handicapped’ from all policy documents, schemes and legislations. The Indian

government has ratified the UNCRPD three years ago, and it is expected to harmonize the varying

definitions of disability as contained in different legislations to one uniform definition of Disability as

described in the UNCRPD.11

T


12 Reasonable Accommodation implies necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with Disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

13 Under the Incentive scheme the Government makes payment of the employers contributions to the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance for the first three years as an incentive, in return of employment of persons with disabilities with a monthly wage up to Rs 25,000/per month.

� Incorporate the principle of Reasonable Accommodation12 /adjustment as articulated in the UNCRPD.

With the ratification of the UNCRPD, the Indian government is obliged to review all policies, legislations and

programmes in the light and spirit of the UNCRPD. Non-discrimination, equal opportunity and reasonable

accommodation for PwDs need to be inherently included in every department/ office of the government.

� An adequate Management Information System needs to be established, one, which will ensure that the

reporting formats of all the government schemes capture the category wise disaggregated data on PwDs.

This data generation will facilitate the strategizing and taking of appropriate measures in avoiding any

gender or category wise discriminations and reach out uniformly.

� The MoSJE, which is the nodal ministry, must ensure a centralized and detailed database for all States

(similar to MGNREGA) pertaining to programmatic target achievements for the PwDs. At the MoSJE,

particularly the Chief Commissioner Disability and State Commissioner Disability’s office needs to be

strengthened with a strong statistical support to capture all programme data that directly or indirectly

benefits the PwDs.

� The Websites of Central and State livelihood schemes should be updated to facilitate proper monitoring

of the schemes and reporting.

� A system for accountability and procedures for handling non-compliance need to be defined and

capacities for effective implementation need to be put in place.

� All Government Ministries (for instance animal husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, Petroleum, Railways,

Telecom etc), which have income generation programmes including the potential for outsourcing/offering

franchise etc, could ensure that atleast 3 percent of their beneficiaries are persons with disabilities.

Recommendations for the Private Sector

The PwD Act 1995 provides for the Government to offer incentives to the private and public sector to promote

employment for the disabled. Despite the passing of an incentive scheme,13 the results have been poor.


� To review existing/devise new incentive schemes that will promote employment of the disabled in the

private sector. The involvement of the private sector, particularly the corporate world needs much more

innovation and needs to go beyond mere incentives on Provident Fund contributions, tax benefits etc. For

example, a grant scheme for employers could be initiated to support changes and accommodations at

work place, which will make it supportive and conducive for the disabled to work like creating accessibility

at the work place, providing assistive technologies, devices, personal attendants etc.

� Grants are required for promoting disability employment, for conducting awareness/ sensitization programmes, campaigns, studies etc to educate and inform the relevant stakeholders into the features

of the UNCRPD. It is equally pertinent to involve the corporate sector in the planning and execution of

awareness campaigns to showcase livelihood options. This will support the confidence building of PwDs

and also help in creating a positive attitude in the community at large.

� To have redress mechanisms in place to address concerns of discrimination/harassment faced by the PwDs in the private sector regarding employability. The redress team should comprise of

representatives from the DPO network and relevant industries.

� To have exclusive consultations with selected industrial houses and corporate associations with

the participation of a decision maker to dialogue on the role they can play in enhancing livelihoods for

PwDs. Prepare a composite livelihood plan on a pilot basis with an independent committee comprising

appropriate representation by PwDs, corporate houses, Government and civil society to monitor it.

Recommendations for the Government/Public Sector

� Undertake Skills Development Programmes - Active collaboration with the National Skills Development

Corporation (NSDC) must be encouraged and as a start, efforts to integrate innovative projects within

the Government and private set up for the skill enhancement of PwDs could be implemented in a few

selected States.

� Identification of jobs continues to be a big hurdle, as many jobs remain ‘unidentified’ for PwDs, debarring

a large segment of qualified people with disabilities from working in the Government. The PwD Act

1995, mandates that a regular review of the list of jobs be undertaken at least once in three years but

this has not happened on a regular basis. It is therefore proposed that instead of identifying specific


14 Report of the Sub Group on Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities – Under the Working Group of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for formulations of XII Five year Plan (2012-17), August 2011.

15 Ibid 16 Drawn from the Report of the Sub Group on Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities – Under the Working Group of Empowerment of

Persons with Disabilities for formulations of XII Five year Plan (2012-17), August 2011.

jobs, it would be beneficial to open up all jobs

for PwDs. And incase any Department wants

an exemption for a particular job it should

apply for the same. An expert committee

comprising of representatives from Disabled

Peoples Organization (DPOs) could be

formed to examine such applications.14

� A concerted effort should be made to address

the backlog of the vacancies in all the Ministries,

Departments and PSUs at the Centre and State/

UT levels for PwDs from 1996 onwards.15 A

special recruitment drive could be organized

to fill the backlog vacancies.

� All the Employment Exchanges (EE) in the

country (regular, professional and special)

should be made inclusive and barrier free for

persons with disabilities. The efficiency of the

EE with respect to people with disabilities

needs to be enhanced to cater to public and

private sectors. Instituting disability audits,

accessible infrastructure, information, improved coordination etc can possibly do this. All exchanges are

expected to register people with any kinds of disability as mentioned in the Disability Act.16


Recommendations for Entrepreneurship Development, Self Employment & Urban Livelihoods

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in all the schemes under the Entrepreneurship and Skill development programs of the Ministry of MSME 17 including short and long term courses and fulfillment of 3 percent

reservation in all the programmes. The Ministry of MSME could also consider promoting an exclusive scheme for

PwDs, which will allow and support PwDs to get support while initiating and setting up their own new enterprises.

� Strengthen and improve the delivery mechanism of National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC). It is recommended to include a grant component in addition to the

loan support offered to the PwDs. In addition, collaborative synergies need to build up between NHFDC

and regional rural and public sector banks that could lend directly to PwDs and get refinanced by the

NHFDC.

� Introduce new mechanisms and schemes for setting up Micro Enterprises of Persons with Disabilities

with a particular focus on people with high support needs.

� Incorporate interests and needs of the disabled as a vulnerable group as part of new/ existing poverty alleviation schemes to promote livelihood opportunities (wage and self employment) for those

living in urban areas especially slums and from lower socio economic background.

17 Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises


� Formulate incentive policies (sales tax, VAT, excise duty, service tax exemptions etc for entrepreneurs

with disabilities, for enterprises employing over 50 percent persons with disabilities and enterprises

involved in manufacturing assistive devices/technologies for persons with disabilities.

� The proposed Urban Livelihood Mission has included PwDs among the most vulnerable groups and

they could be supported by special projects for wage and self-employment. The social mobilization

and institutional development strategies could ensure that needs of and opportunities for PwDs

are part of the planning processes. The training and capacity building of delivery institutions also

will need to be sensitized to working with and involving PwDs in urban livelihood promotion.

Recommendations for Rural Livelihoods

� Disability specific sub programmes could be initiated under flagship government programmes, especially under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),18 which already has provisions for PwDs. In order to ensure the efficacy of the scheme for the disabled

community, regular disability audits should be carried out. These will reveal the gaps and help in identifying

strategies needed for ironing the creases. There could also be drives undertaken to inform and spread

awareness about the rights of the disabled under the scheme.

� To ensure that the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is inclusive with a provision of reasonable

accommodation/ adjustments, there should also be an additional focus on vulnerable groups like women

with disabilities etc, ensuring that 3 percent of the target population benefiting from the scheme are PwDs

and a periodic review undertaken to ascertain the impact of the programme on the livelihood patterns of

PwDs.

� Initiate a focused livelihoods enhancing programme for persons with disabilities on similar lines as the

Indira Kranti Patham (IKP) in Andhra Pradesh. The focus would be to facilitate, improve capacities, access to

availing various entitlements and services offered by the government. In addition, the federations formulated

under the IKP in Andhra Pradesh could take up value added entrepreneurship beyond the realms of savings

and credits as demonstrated by AKASA, Sri Lanka.19

18 An important legislation ensuring livelihood security through guaranteed 100 days wage employment for a rural household. As per MGNREGA operational guidelines, work is to be provided to a disabled person to suit his /her ability and qualification.

19 More details on IKP, Andhra Pradesh and AKASA, Sri Lanka available in the main report.


� To provide land to landless persons with disabilities under the Centre and State land allocation

programmes as preferred target population. This should be supplemented with trainings and capacity-

building programmes related to agriculture and farm based activities to ensure sustainable livelihoods.

Various governmental as well as non-governmental initiatives in India demonstrate the challenges faced in the

area of creating livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities. Ensuring appropriate policy changes, peer

training, public-private partnerships, creating barrier free environment, providing adaptations of technology in

rural areas; to name a few are ways of beating the existing challenges regarding the PwDs.

In addition, to the recommendations above, the case studies documented as part of this report offer valuable

lessons and insights on working with and on issues of PwDs. Some recommendations based on these learnings are

encapsulated below.

Recommendations based on International and Domestic Experiences

� Learning’s from both the Jharkhand (NBJK) and Cambodian experience reveal that one of the viable,

economic and easy to implement models seems to be the local one-to-one teaching method. This could

be included as a constituent in the training component of existing livelihood schemes such as PMEGP,

SGSY, and SJSRY. All trained personnel could become individual and /or group Swarozgaries.

� While surveillance and ensuring the smooth implementation of the Act is the prime responsibility of

the Chief Commissioner Disability (CCD), some amount of service responsibility could be entrusted to

the Chief Commissioner Disability’s office as a mechanism for the effective implementation of the Act.

Employer interface and employer counseling on a continuous basis could be one such area.

� The Japanese experience showcases that it is not only for the Government to sharpen its policies and laws

for the strict implementation of the reserved quota, but also for various CSOs who require to work at a

similar interface and create employer awareness.

� There is almost nil access to technology and modernization in the field of rehabilitation of PwDs in India.

Several technological advancements have taken place all over the world that range from assistive devices

to worksite adaptations. The transfer of technology as well as emphasis on new innovations by way of


research and development should be made a

priority to carry forward the disability sector

into the new era. They also need to cover all

spectrums i.e. the farm and non-farm sector

in the rural areas and manufacturing to the

services sector in the urban and peri-urban

areas.

� Taking a sectoral approach, Job Analysis needs to be done and a handbook prepared

as a ready to use guide that can serve the

purpose of cross matching types and extent

of functional loss of an individual with the

trades. This will also allow fulfilling the

clause of reasonable accommodation by an

employer.

� Being primarily an agricultural country and

with the majority of PwDs in India living

in rural areas, the methodology used by

Goodwill industry – especially the AgrAbility

project is well worth replicating. The National

Rural Livelihood Mission and National Skill

Development Corporation could together

undertake a pilot project based on similar

lines in selected States.


Moving Forward

While the above listed recommendations would be a step in the right direction, it further calls on all decision

makers and donors to ensure that:

� Policies on Disability are designed and implemented with the participation of disabled people.

� Disabled persons are identified within any target group so that a provision, and where necessary,

affirmative action can be built into development plans.

� Opportunities for knowledge sharing and awareness trainings on ‘Disability’ are provided to both members

of the government and the citizenry.

� Affirmative action is considered to reserve white-collar government jobs in order to assist and motivate

the disabled to use their intellectual skills and capacities.

� Tax concessions and trainings are promoted to encourage and help the disabled people start up their own

enterprises in the Information Technology sector.

� Guidelines on approach to livelihood programmes for disabled groups are developed and disseminated

to all government, commercial and civil society partners.

� Specific access requirements of disabled people are met in order to ensure their full participation. This

may involve financial commitments on part of the government.

� Provision of credit, vocational training and other services are offered by mainstream organizations to

disabled persons who need to be treated as equal citizens and as both potential consumers and producers.

It is evident there is no single solution to the challenge at hand for enhancing livelihoods of Persons with Disabilities.

Various modalities such as skills development, placements, entrepreneurship, sheltered employment; microfinance,

reservations and so on and so forth could prove to be useful. This also depends on the resource availability and related

aspects as long as these all promise better access and none or minimal barriers coupled with non-discriminatory and

positive attitudes leading towards the creation of an inclusive society that will benefit not only the PwDs but society

at large.

Documents

Livelihood Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities · vocational training, employment, etc. As a result, ‘Poor people are disproportionately disabled…and people with disabilities